Moments in Dirt and Ink

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest (purple line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 I packed up for four days but suspected my plan could only take three. That plan: hike the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) through the Huston Park Wilderness and a little further. The trail crosses an old road that happens to go past a state line monument, so I decided I would follow that down and see if I could find that monument before turning on my heels and heading right back north. There was at least one different trail diversion I could take on the way back. For the most part, trails in Huston Park Wilderness are spurs connecting to roads off the backbone of the Huston Park Trail running north to south, and hosting the CDT for most its length. It (marked #852 there) diverges by dropping to a low park (as meadows get referred to around here) and climbs back to the CDT after a similar length and about 300 extra feet of elevation change. I also wante...

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest ( map link ) My original plan for the day was to start backpacking south from Battle Pass on the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), but I decided the evening before to put it off a day for a hike north as far as Bridger Peak. Here, the trail actually follows a road although my map showed two trail diversions. These weren't enough to persuade me to try it, but I decided that Bridger Peak is a worthy destination. It is a range 5 high point with 1884 feet of prominence and 25 miles of isolation as well as a former fire lookout site. I decided not to change my start point and walked the ridge from the rest area, break check, and trailhead on the south side of the pass. There's a second rest area on the north side with some good signs about Battle, Wyoming, which was once there. Now there's a scattering of homes built on mining claims and a few other remnants of mining history. Welcome to Battle Pass. At nearly 10,000 feet, it's a goo...

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest ( map link ) I looked for a way to turn a tour of the glacial lakes below Medicine Bow into a nice overnight loop, but the loop I found came to an estimated 12 miles. A little short for an overnight in my book. With the trails that were missing on both the Forest Service topo and OpenStreetMap, I could have done it. It turns out the publication I really needed was a fishing guide which is among the many free brochures you can pick up at ranger stations. The one I visited was actually on Routt (in Walden, about 3 blocks from the library) since anything else wouldn't be open when I passed. It turns out that although they are administratively joined, that doesn't mean you can get all that much on things across the state line. There's some Motor Vehicle Use Maps until they run out. That larger loop goes over the mountain again, and I'd already done that. I also decided to try out the Circle Trail to get a little height and terrain v...

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest ( map link ) With a bit of sun coming out, I continued up the road to the interpretive trail at Miner's Cabin Trailhead. This is a short loop with signs mostly provided by Wyoming Game and Fish Department. It's part of the "Wyoming's Wildlife Worth the Watching" program that is funded by a trust fund and stamp sales. (These sales support education efforts and many other things, but it seems only nongame management.) Around the parking loop, the signs are primarily concerned with geology. Medicine Bow Peak with a sign about its geology. This one is by Game and Fish, but there's an even larger one by State of Wyoming Geological Survey. These rocks come from 2 billion years of geological happenings. A monument to United Airlines flight 409, which crashed on the mountain killing 66 people. The trailhead and the first few signs along it. Since it is Game and Fish doing it, most the signs are ecology based. There...

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest ( map link ) I had in the back of my mind the goal of actually getting to Wyoming, Idaho, maybe even Montana this year. Well, I got to Wyoming! It's not my first visit, but it is the first in the time of this blog. Scanning around the places of the nearest National Forest, I found its namesake and resolved to visit. It's hard to find a good dispersed camp in the area without a 4x4, but I managed, then came up the Snowy Range. "Oh, real creative naming," I thought sarcastically until I came around a corner and saw the peaks glistening white on a day that certainly had no remaining snow up there. I chose to start at Lake Marie, which was closest to my camp. The regular start point to climb Medicine Bow Peak is Sugarloaf Campground where it's difficult to find a place in the larger lot and there's a $5 day use fee to try. The small, free lot at Lake Marie was filling somewhat quickly as I arrived around 8AM. The hike is lo...

White River National Forest Arapaho National Forest (orange line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 My perch up on an exposed hill let me watch the morning animals. The deer were up particularly early and high on a nearby hill, chomping away in the dawn light. Moose wandered by later to stare at me while I stared at them. It was good to enjoy the animals because I was seriously not enjoying my breakfast. I found these quinoa flakes in Dillon and decided to try them. It has a sour flavor and a poor texture. You might expect it to have more protein than couscous, but no, it has no nutritional advantage whatsoever. The couscous I could find was $8 for not even 2 pounds and I'm used to scooping it out for $1.60 a pound, so I was open to new ideas. Flaked quinoa is an all around fail. (Also in there: lots of cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg, cranberries (other fruit infused ones are most excellent), raisins, big pour of parmesan and Romano cheese (Romano is funky a...

Arapaho National Forest White River National Forest (purple line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 It wasn't too cold in the campsite by the creek and I had a rather good sleep. I didn't think I needed to get up early since this day should be a shorter and therefore easier day. I was half right. It was shorter. There's sun further up where the trail goes, but not yet at my camp. It was already past 7PM when I stopped, so I really didn't want to continue on although there is water up there. It wasn't all that late when I got climbing for the pass, leaving the canyon part of the hike behind. No more muck! Also not a lot of water for quite a while, so I was sure to start filled up. There actually was some water in the first mile, but after that it wasn't just one pass but many as the trail traveled around the rim of the next canyon. The unvisited high end of the glacial canyon through which Bobtail Creek flows. Slender cinquefoil . The ...

Arapaho National Forest (red line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 The South Fork Trail is a loop trail of a little over 20 miles (according to the sign) that travels from the main Williams Fork to its South Fork with a ridge crossing in between. My backpacking plan was to start on the Williams Fork portion of this trail and follow it up and over to South Fork. Soon after reaching South Fork, I'd climb again on Ptarmigan Pass Trail to Ute Peak Trail and hike it all the way back. This route has a nice mix of environments and, it turns out, challenges. The final day is a long ridge walk, but the weather machine was promising some perfect weather for it. There was 0% chance of rain! The day before, which had some high stuff late in the day, was only about 10% chance and the first day was more like 40% chance. You can't have everything. I decided to put the short road walk at the start and parked at Ute Peak Trailhead to get started. The first thing to go ...